Crimson Scales & Stormy Eyes
by DragonLover4Life
Summary: I've been wanting to try and write a mermaid AU for a while now. Let me know what you think and where I can improve. Enjoy :) (Also yes, I am totally putting this up when its 1:23am and I have a chem lab tomorrow. No regrets.)
1. Chapter 1

The first time he saw her, he had been a young boy running along the beach playing in the water and sand, overall trying to cause mischief for his Gramps, old man Mundok.

It was during this time that he decided he'd go hide behind some boulders in the cove so that he could jump out and scare Gramps when he came looking for him. Racing across the sand he'd only just settled down to hide when he heard a sudden splash behind him and whipped his head around.

Only to see a flash of red before it was gone

Interest now piqued, he quietly edged over to the rock where he saw the slip of red disappear behind, and, with the determined curiosity only a child could hold, he slowly climbed the rock. He nearly fell off and into the water however when he saw a small girl, who couldn't have been more than a few years younger than him, hunched down and peaking around her hiding spot, watching the place he had just been.

Her face unsure –nervous even –but most of all curious.

This in itself maybe wasn't the strangest thing he could have come across. After all it wasn't like he was the only kid in the world he loved to play down on the rock pools of a beach. No, what had nearly sent Hak toppling over into the water however was the fact that in the shallows of the cove, he could see that her slender torso smoothly merged into a bright tail with scales a beautiful mix of crimson, scarlet and orange with flecks of gold all scattered in-between.

It was like looking at a living sunrise. Like dawn herself had been personified.

Unfortunately, even as he kept his balance, he did quite manage to keep in the small gasp that escaped his lips causing the girl to look up suddenly and see him leering above her.

She yelped in shock, all curiosity now wiped clear from her features and replaced with fear as she darted to get away.

Not wanted her to leave, he yelped and called out to her to wait, that he wasn't going to hurt her and apologising for spying on her while still being his pedantic self and adding that _technically_ she had been spying on him first.

That last bit seemed to reach her much to his relief and she hesitated at the edge of the cove, now a good 10 feet away. Close enough to hear him, but far enough that if he were to try anything or if she decided he was a danger, she'd be long gone before he even had the chance to chase after her.

As he continued to apologise, holding his hands up in surrender to show her he meant no harm, she seemed to argue with herself for a moment before cautiously inching closer.

Relieved that it looked like she wasn't going to leave just yet, he sighed and went to lean an arm on the side of the rock he was on, only to find that he was closer to its edge than he had first thought.

Missing completely, he fell into the water with a yelp and a splash much to his own disgruntlement, yet when he surfaced, he was greeted to the most musical sound he had ever heard.

The girl was laughing at him. He couldn't explain it. How a laugh could be so melodic, but hers was and it was entrancing, and it brought a boyish grin to his own face to see that his blunder had made her happy.

Once she finished her giggling, she smiled and swam over to him, fear now gone, as she went to see if he was ok.

At first things were tentative, as he wasn't sure if they spoke the same language or how well they could communicate, but soon those worries were gone as she started asking him all sorts of questions.

Why did he wear feathers on his head? Where was he from? How old was he? Did he know his eyes were the colour of an ocean storm?

Her rekindled curiosity warmed him, and he obliged all her questions, asking some of his own when he could get a word in. Questions about where she came from and what her home was like. What she did for fun and all sorts of things.

They talked for a while in the shallows together, Hak sitting on a smaller submerged rock, now resigned to being wet as he and the girl talked eye to eye.

Minutes however, quickly turned to hours and by the time it was sunset, Hak had to go, Gramps already calling for him. He didn't want anyone else to find his new friend for some reason, and neither did she seem keen to meet any other new people.

Something about her not supposed to have come here in the first place or something like that. So, reluctantly, they said their goodbyes.

Before she left however, he caught her hand and stopped her, realising he had never even gotten her name for all the questions they had asked each other.

Would he ever even get the chance to see her again?

She seemed surprised at first as she looked down at the hand now holding hers, as if it were something entirely strange to see, before calmly, she swam back over to him told him that her name was Yona and asked for his name in return.

When he gave her his name, she smiled brightly before saying goodbye again and disappearing beneath the waves, the colours of her tail practically glowing in the last few rays of sunlight.

As he watched her go, feeling a little disheartened now, he noticed something reflecting warmly in the water and crouched down to investigate. Picking up the small object and bringing it up to the light, he marveled at his new-found treasure as a perfect crimson scale as red as dawn and smooth as pearl glinted back at him.

A gift to remember her by, he supposed.

Carefully, stashing his treasure away in his shirt pocket, he began to make his way back to the open beach where Gramps was surely still waiting for him, his temper now run thin and looking eager to box his ears if he wasn't careful.

Oh well, he thought. Facing Mundok's wrath was worth it after the day he just had.

When he got back home, Hak wasted no time in darting upstairs to his room and closing the door before carefully grabbing a length of leather cord from his desk and securing it around the scale before tying it around his neck.

He made up his mind there and then as a young boy, that he would wear that scale and never take it off until he found that girl again and could return it to her. And until that day came, he'd wear it and remember the girl who shone like the dawn.

And so, days turned into weeks and weeks to months. Everyday he would go back down to that same cove and look for any signs of red hiding behind boulders, only to find nothing.

Eventually as the years rolled by, he was convinced that he had imagined the whole thing as a kid. That the scale was simply that of some fish he had found and the result of letting his childhood imagination run wild.

Still, made up memories or not, he never could bring himself to part with the trinket or take it off. So instead he simply resigned himself to wearing it under his shirt.

{*****}

Some years later, now a young man, Hak was helping Kija drag a drunk Jaeha back to their flat before the idiot decided it was a good idea to hitch hike in the middle of no where.

Once Jaeha decided he'd rather just take a nap in the middle of the street Hak was just about ready to dump his friend and let the idiot deal with the consequences. So, to prevent any death either at the hands of a car or at the hands of Hak, Kija simply told him he could handle him on his own and that they'd catch up again later.

Hak only hesitated a moment before Jaeha started blabbering nonsense again and simply pat the man on the back, wished him luck and headed off on his own, leaving Kija to babysit his brother's drunk ass for the night.

He liked them both well enough but between those two and their two other brothers, never mind how different all their personalities were, they could be downright exhausting at times.

How they were all related, he'd never know.

Scratch that.

He knew they were all adoptive brothers so no real blood ties. The real question was how in the hell was Zeno the oldest? That was one mystery they'd never solve. The boy was a full-grown adult, yet he looked and sounded like a 17-year-old with the happy go lucky personality of someone a quarter of his age.

Either way it didn't really matter he guessed, and so he put thoughts of his friends and neighbours behind him and simply headed down towards the beach.

It was a full moon out that night so Hak didn't need to turn on his phone's flashlight to see just fine as he took off his shoes and walked along the wet sand at the edge of where the low tide lapped at his feet.

He often came down to this part of the beach, down towards that little cove hidden around the corner of the cliff sides to sit and relax amongst the rockpools and the shallows.

Had done so since he was a kid.

As his thoughts drifted to past adventures there, he pulled out the pendant that he still wore under his shirt all those years later.

It had been a long time since he came to terms with the reality that that girl he remembered was just apart of a childhood fantasy. Still, mermaid scale or fish scale, he never could quite bring himself to part with it, its iridescent form still catching any form of light and seemingly igniting into a miniature flame. It was beautiful and for some reason gave him comfort, especially when resting close to his heart.

While lost in these thoughts he had made it all the way over to his favourite sitting rock, which at low tide, was now just far enough out of the water to dip his feet in without having to get too wet.

He sighed as he sat down and closed his eyes, letting the cool sea breeze hit his face and the sound of the ocean release the tension from his body.

Yes, there was something about here that really made him calm. That is, until he heard someone.

Someone struggling. . .

Someone in trouble.

Quickly he sat up again and listened carefully to try and figure out where the sound was coming from. He needn't have listened that hard however, as he could see them tangled with what looked to be a fishing net just off the edge of the docks just on the other side of the cove. So, without a second thought, he shucked off his shoes and jacket and jumped into the water, making his way over to the person.

He could have gone and ran up and around the cliff side, but it was steep and the path nonsensical in its curves, so it would have taken twice as long to get there than if he just swam across. Plus, he was a strong swimmer, so he wasn't concerned about getting stuck out in deep water.

As he got closer he could tell that the person struggling was a woman, her efforts now sounding exhausted and desperate as she continued to thrash around in the net.

Once he got close enough, he called out to her.

"Hey, don't worry! I have a pocket knife that can help us get you untangled, just hold on!"

Upon hearing him the woman whipped her head around, looking more startled to see him than relieved, which struck him as odd.

No matter, as he swam up beside her and dug the knife out of his pocket, she stayed calm enough for him to help as he began to cut her loose.

One cord, two cords, five and she was free, but she must've been there for hours based on how exhausted she looked. When he reached for her hand to offer to help her swim to shore though, she hesitated.

"I can swim back just fine, don't worry about me. Thank you for helping me though. . ."

Cautious but not wanting to argue with someone who had just had a terrifying experience he nodded and began to head back to shore, motioning her to swim ahead of him so that he could be sure she was really alright. And though she was slow, she managed to keep her head above water.

Eventually, they both made it back to shore, Hak now pretty tired himself after swimming for so long and doing nothing but treading water. He collapsed sitting down in the shallows on the other side of the cove to where he had been.

Thankfully he could see that his jacket and shoes hadn't been blown away into the water yet. With that no longer a concern, he looked back to the girl who was now sat in the shallows herself.

She was panting hard and shaking which was concerning, but what caught his attention was the faint colour of red just beneath the surface of where she sat.

"You're hurt!" he exclaimed, quickly getting back up and making his way over to her.

"No, No! Don't worry about it, it's nothing!" she replied, looking stricken as she tried to back away further into the water. Another thing that struck him as odd considering she'd just barely escaped drowning.

"Don't be ridiculous, I know some basic first aid. Let me see it and I can help," he pressed, reaching for her now.

"H-Hang on! Wait –" but before she could move out of range he had reached down and grabbed what he assumed to be her leg, only to become confused.

He had expected to feel a foot, perhaps even some horrid gash. Instead however he was met with the feeling of something smooth. . . smooth and cold as pearl.

He looked down.

And began to register what is was that he was looking at. That the red he had thought to be blood in the water, was not blood at all but rather –crimson scales.

A tail. He was looking at and touching a tail.

And yet, as the woman began to panic, fearing what he might do or say knowing what she was, what came out of his mouth shocked them both.

"It's you." He said, looking into her eyes, recognising and remembering their violet hue for the first time in years, "You came back."

"W-What?" she sputtered, looking confused until he reached into his shirt and pulled out the leather cord holding it up for her to see. He hadn't been able to see the colour of her hair in the shadows of the docks, but now out in the open where the moonlight could reach, her hair was set alight the same colour of flame as the scale he now held up for her to see.

Her scale.

"You came back," He repeated, more sure of himself now in this impossible situation.

Slowly the fear melted from her face as she thought back to that long-ago day. Thought back and remembered a small boy sat on top of a stack of rock as they talked for hours in the shallows. And as he held up her scale between them and gazed at her with those eyes so blue it was like looking into the eye of an ocean storm, she felt such nostalgia.

"You're the little boy with feathers in his hair. The boy with eyes the same colour as an ocean storm." She breathed, as she looked between him and the scale before a heartachingly beautiful smile broke across her face and she relaxed. "Where are your feathers now, boy with a storm in his eyes?" she asked, and he laughed in response before lunging out and pulling her into a hug.

"I thought I had made you up as a child. That I had only imagined you and yet here you are, come back to me again!" he cried out, swinging her around in the water as one might do with a dance partner in a ball room.

She didn't protest however, only laughed along with him and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on as he continued to toss her about.

"Your name!" she cried out suddenly, now releasing her grip and he obligingly put her back down into the water, "I can't remember your name from all those years ago, and I feel dreadful about it!"

"Well, I have to say I'm not completely against being called 'the boy with a storm in his eyes'. Sounds like a good enough name as any to me." He replied, all smirk and boyish features.

She huffed in response, though clearly not in a foul mood by a long shot as her smile remained, "Well, I think its too long, so unless you remind me of your name I'll just have to think of a new one for you."

"Oh? And what would you call me?" he asked, now more than a little curious at what she would name him if it were up to her.

"Well, your eyes are so blue, I remember that about you most, so it'd have to be something similar but shorter. . . though you certainly are much larger than you were since I last saw you. You're practically the size of on ocean beast! . . ." she said, still contemplating what might suite the boy in front of her.

"That's it then!" she exclaimed her face lighting up once more "I would call you Thunder Beast, for the storm in your eyes and your stature." She finished looking proud of herself.

"Thunder Beast, eh? I rather like the sound of that. And what about you? Will you remind me of your own name, or will I have to make one up for you as well?"

"Well, I'd certainly like to hear what you might come up with." She replied giving him a shy smile now.

"Well, it might not be as creative as yours but the first thing that springs to mind would be to call you 'Princess'," He said casually.

"Princess?" she said looking surprised and a little taken aback. "Why would you call me that?"

"I don't know really, it just springs to mind, and besides. . . I think it suites you. You look how I'd always imagined a princess from an old fairy tale would look."

"Which is what?"

"Beautiful." He replied without missing a beat, lopsided grin back in place as his hair fell around his face making him look unfairly handsome in her opinion.

Even with only the light of the moon reflecting off the water and white sand he could see the blush that stained her cheeks.

"Here," he said suddenly, taking off his necklace and holding it out to her, breaking apart the growing silence that had began to form between them "I always told myself that if I ever found you again, I'd return it to you, and well . . . It does belong to you after all" he continued, now somewhat bashful.

She giggled softly in response, "Keep it. Keep it and continue to remember me by it. After all, its not like I can reattach it, and besides," she said, flicking water at him with her tail "I have plenty of others."

"I suppose that's true" he said, playfully tossing some water back at her.

"What about me though?"

"What do you mean?"

"What can I have to remember you by?" she asked shyly, though she couldn't quite hide the eager hopefulness to her voice.

Thinking on his feet, Hak patted down his pockets before reaching into one and pulling out one of the blue-green glass beads that used to hang from his headband just above the feathers that adorned it.

A trivial thing in his mind, he had found it lying on his bedroom floor that morning and had meant to go about restringing it at some point, but. . . right now it might just serve a better purpose.

"Here, you might recognise this" he said, taking her outstretched hand and closing her fingers around the small trinket.

When she opened her hand to see what he had given her, her expression turned soft as she rolled the bead around her palm.

"I do. In fact, I vaguely remember these beads catching the light and reflecting their colour onto your hair. Like when the light filters down through the kelp. It's beautiful." She said, gazing down at what was her own little treasure now.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the sound of shouting coming from further up the hill and Hak made no effort to supress his groan of annoyance.

It seemed that he and his friends hadn't been the only ones who had gone out for drinks and currently, Tae-jun and a couple of his buddies, seemed to be enjoying causing a racket as they made their way down to the beach where they were likely to cause some kind of trouble.

Especially if any of them noticed the two of them around the corner.

"I should go," she said solemnly, as she began to push herself back out into the deeper water.

"No, wait!" he cried as he caught her hand in his, just like he had all those years ago.

She chuckled at this, "It seems like some things never change, doesn't it?"

"Sorry, reflexive action. Before you go though, I don't think I could go another 7 years without seeing you, so please. . . come back here tomorrow just after sunset, once everyone seems to have gone home for the night. There's so much I don't know about you."

For a moment she looked hesitant, but to his relief she looked him in the eye and promised that she'd meet him there again tomorrow, just as he said.

"Oh, and before I forget," she added just before pushing herself up on her arms and kissing the side of his cheek.

"Thank you for helping me back there. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come, or worse, if anyone else had found me. . ."

He only managed a weak "no problem," as he held his hand up to where her lips had touched before she had turned around and was already disappearing beneath the black of the waves.

With nothing else to do but head home before Tae-jun found him and decided to strike up a conversation he'd rather live without, he headed home, still barely processing what had just happened.

He'd just gotten a kiss from a mermaid.

Hell, the mermaid he'd met as a child was real, and he would see her again tomorrow.

Things just got a whole lot more interesting.

And with that, he jogged the rest of the way home, eager to turn in for the night so that tomorrow could come that much faster.

{*****}

Hey guys thanks for reading this far. I've been wanting to try and write some sort of mermaid AU but never really got around to it and I'm still not sure how I feel about how this one turned out :/

Update: I just re-uploaded this chapter after editing it a bit. I'll be doing the same to the second chapter as well. It's been forever and I'm embarrassed by how many mistakes I often leave in because I read over them. I'm sure there are still plenty but It's an improvement at least.

Reviews of any and all kinds are always welcome and I hope you guys are having a great week so far!


	2. Chapter 2

Mer AU Chapter 2

The next evening, true to his word, Hak waited down by the cove just after sunset. He was eager to see his childhood mermaid friend again.

Needed to prove to himself that yesterday _did_ in fact happen and that it wasn't all some crazy dream or hallucination.

He'd even worn swim shorts and sandals so that he could meet her further out into the water where he knew she was more comfortable just in case anyone else came and she needed to swim off quickly without being seen.

So, he waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But hours later and long after the sun had set, Hak knew he'd have to face facts.

She wasn't coming and yesterday had just been some dream he managed to mistake for a memory.

Disappointed and maybe even a little heartbroken –though he would never admit it –he started the long walk back up the beach towards home. There was no point in hanging around in the cove this late at night with nothing to do, so he figured he might as well grab a drink at home where he could sulk the rest of the night away.

He'd only gotten about halfway up the road however when his phone went off in his pocket. Pulling it out he saw that it was a text from Jae-ha (probably wanted to go out for drinks again), and low and behold when he read the message, he was right.

He scoffed to himself.

Ever the life of the party, Jae-ha asked if he wanted to join him out at the local bar again that night for drinks and to scope out some chicks. And while his first instinct was to turn his friend down as he wasn't in the mood, after a moments thought he decided that going out to drink with a friend might not be so bad after all.

At the very least it would distract him from the hollow feeling of disappointment that seemed to weigh down in his chest.

{*****}

He managed to catch up to Jae-ha at their local pub by around 10:00pm finding the flamboyant man already with a girl at his side as they ordered more drinks at the bar.

"Hak my man! You made it after all," Jae-ha called out to him when he noticed him coming in through the door.

"Sure did. And if I recall rightly, you owe me a drink." He replied back with the best lighthearted smirk he could muster.

"Ah, never one to let a man break his word, are you? Fair enough, what do ya want?"

"Just a pint of the house beer to start with and we'll see how we go for from there." He replied, as he found himself a bar stool.

As Jae-ha got him his beer, Hak pulled out his necklace. He took his time running his thumb over the smooth scale and tilting it back and fourth in the light to reveal all the shades of crimson it hid within it.

A memory? Or a dream?

Surely, he wasn't that crazy.

But then again, if she had been real, hadn't he always promised he'd give the scale back to her? And yet here it still lay in his hand, no less bright than the day he'd found it.

He needed a drink.

Low and behold, not a moment too soon, Jae-ha returned and handed him his bear just as he tucked the memento back into the front of his shirt.

"What was that necklace you were looking at just then? A gift from a girl perhaps?" he teased with a grin as Hak took a long sip of his drink.

"It's nothing, just an old fish scale I found as kid that I ended up keeping." He replied sullenly.

"A fish scale? Why on earth would you wear that around your neck? Lemme see! It must be seriously beautiful if you thought it worth making it into jewelry!" Jae-ha continued, and before Hak could tell him to forget about it, he'd already pulled the long cord up by the back of his neck and was admiring it in the dim light of the bar.

"Holy shit, I was right! It really is something pretty isn't it! What kind of fish did you get it from anyway?" he asked enthusiastically, all thoughts of his female friend gone as he was entranced by its colour and beauty.

Hak sighed and just rested his head on his fist and muttered, "Got it from a mermaid."

He had expected for his friend to just laugh at him and ask if he was already drunk without even being halfway through his drink, but instead he was surprised when Jae-ha looked him dead in the eye and asked him in a serious tone, "Did you really?"

"What? You actually believe in mermaids or something?" he half-mocked.

"Well, I haven't seen one myself but my great aunt Gi-gan used to sail the seas as a young woman and swears to this day that she saw one once. And while she drinks her own fair share, I've never know her to make up or exaggerate stories." Jae-ha admitted, his serious face still in place even as excitement and curiosity light his eyes before continuing.

"Well, if you really did get this from a mermaid, you're one lucky guy! You know they say that if a mermaid gives you a kiss you'll have to meet each other again?"

"What are you going on about now?" Hak moaned, as he took a deep swig of his drink while wishing this whole discussion about mermaids would just come to an end.

"Yup. They say you have no choice about it. Something about a compulsion being laid within the kiss so when she wants to see you again, you'll have to go to wherever she is."

"You're a lunatic you know that?" Hak said, slamming down his now empty glass.

"Ah, but I'm the lunatic who'll buy you drinks so you have to like me." He replied with a wink before grabbing another round for Hak and himself.

{*****}

It was around one in the morning by the time Hak and Jae-ha shared a cab home. They lived next to each other anyway and it seemed like a better idea than walking uphill the whole way home. So, after raking their pockets for cash they managed to scrounge up enough to split the fee.

He was relatively tipsy at this point and more than ready to collapse into bed as soon as he got home. Jae-ha on the other hand, with no surprise, was flat out drunk, so he'd have to make sure he got back ok first before he could finally lay down.

Fifteen minutes later he'd managed to wrestle Jae-ha into his own house and to drink a glass of water before dropping him onto his bed. He'd only just left the house and was about to walk over to his own when he felt a sudden stabbing, aching pain in his chest.

He pulled the neck of his shirt away thinking it was probably just his necklace poking him for some reason, only to realise that the feeling was more internal than external.

When he tried to really think about it, it felt more like something was pulling on his heart from some invisible strings, yanking and pulling at him from within.

Maybe he was having a heart attack?

No, he'd done first aid and wasn't having any of the other symptoms. Yet still this tugging, near painful feeling in his chest, insistently pulled him towards the road that lead back down to the beach.

Like something was begging him to find them.

Still a bit drunk and in the mindset that he was likely already on the path to losing his mind, he decided to roll with it and followed the pulling feeling step by step, tug by tug, all the way down to the cove.

Why the hell had it dragged him down here? was he closer to losing his mind than he thought? were his delusions to become a regular thing now?

He was shaken from his thoughts however when the pulling turned to a sharp stabbing pain deep in his heart as he looked out towards the sea.

Red. He could see a vague but distinct flash of red just sitting within the kelp forest not a mile offshore.

He was insane, he had to be. That, or he was much more drunk than he'd first thought.

But, in that moment he decided to hell with it.

So, without a second thought he commandeered a nearby old row boat that someone had left sitting on the shore unattended and, rowing hard to get passed the waves pushing him back into shore, headed straight for the red thing that was floating out in the sea.

Between the stark splash of red that cut up from the waves before him and the cold spray of the sea, he was alarmingly sober and awake by now as he continued to paddle hard for the tangle of kelp.

It had to be her. The red so recognisable he couldn't have mistaken it for anything else. She had come after all.

He was mad. He was insane. But he knew it was her. She wasn't some dream, but a real memory.

But something was wrong. Why was she way out there? They had agreed to meet in the cove. She also hadn't moved from that spot the whole time he had been rowing and he felt his stomach drop as he finally came close enough to make out her face.

It seemed like she had been crying, her face flushed against the water's chill. Upon further inspection he also noticed a streak a red, not from her hair, that ran long and straight across her cheek. Like someone had lashed out at her with a knife. she was nearly passed out lying in the kelp bed, having used its seed pods and buoyant leaves to help keep her close enough to the surface.

He called out to her, hoping she could be roused and that she was not dead. That he was not too late.

It took a few attempts before she seemed to register the sounds of his calling as she managed to look over at him.

"You're here" she muttered faintly as he finally managed to reach her.

"What happened?!" he asked her, distraught to notice more, recent, cuts across her small lithe body.

"I'll tell you later. First, I need your help getting to shore. I'm too exhausted, I can't go any further."

He nodded reaching down over the side to help pull her up and into the small boat before beginning to row back to shore, this time finding it much easier as the tide helped pull him in.

{*****}

Eventually, Hak somehow managed to make it back to shore, return the small row boat and using his shirt to wrap and hide her tail, carry her all the way back to his apartment.

A herculean task in its own right, as her long tail and their water-logged clothing did not make her very light.

But, never-the-less, he managed and immediately carried her to his bath tub and set her down gently before started to run the water.

Not the best solution he'd admit, but it was the only thing he could think of in the moment and given the circumstances.

Once the bath was full, he told her to wait a second while he went a grabbed a first aid kit. He didn't hear a reply though, Yona seemingly entranced by everything around her.

He guessed that made sense considering she'd probably never been in a bathroom before.

When he returned with the first aid kit in hand, he almost laughed to see her investigating his shampoo, smelling it and trying to decipher the words on it.

"Here, probably best not let any of that into the water. I'm not sure if it'll be too good for you." He said plucking the bottle from her hand and putting it away under the sink.

"Now, you'll have to start from the beginning. What on earth happened? How did you get so beat up?" he asked, gently reaching for her face and tilting it so that he could clean and bandage the cut that ran along her cheek.

And so, as he did his best to fix her up, she told her tale.

She explained how, despite his teasing name he'd thought of her, she was in fact, a princess. When she'd returned home that night to her quarters, she'd found her cousin waiting for her. As it turned out he had had some of his own personal guards keep tabs on her whereabouts and that they had followed her to the cove the day before. Though they had lost track of her for a bit, when they saw that she had become entangled in the net they had intended to go and help her.

That was, before Hak had come along first.

It was a rule of her kind that they not allow themselves to be seen by humans and to come to her aid would have meant breaking that rule. So instead, that had simply left her to his mercy.

The damning event however was their recognition of each other when they had made it to shore. The guards took note of this and brought word back to her cousin.

Apparently, he had been seeking to usurp the throne from her for a while now and found this the perfect excuse to do so. The kingdom would believe she had been killed by a human and should she return the truth of her crime would be revealed, damning her either way.

He cousin even had the gall to laugh when he noted the blue bead Hak had given her, where she had woven it into her hair on the way back. He'd said she only had herself to blame.

And so, he had sent those mutinous guards after her. That is how she'd been injured and why she had been wrapped up in the self of kelp. She explained that mermaids were careful to stay deep in the water to keep away from human sight and the guards would not dare stray so close to it after a human had recently learned the truth of their existence, lest they be found as well. So, she had hidden from her pursuers by swimming close to the surface and near shore at the risk that if anyone other Hak found her, she'd be dead.

"I knew that I needed help, so I called for you using the kiss I gave you the day before."

"So, a mermaid's kiss really does hold a compulsion in it?" he asked, astonished that Jae-ha had been right after all.

"Yes, though I'm curious as to how you are familiar with it." She replied while tilting her head curiously.

"Just a story I heard from an idiot recently, that's all." He waved off.

"Yes, well, either way I apologise for having dragged you out so late at night and for using the compulsion. I've heard it can be rather painful to those who have received it when it is used, but I'm afraid I didn't know what else I could do at the time."

She teared up as the reality of her situation began to dawn on her. Neither of them knew what to do from there. In fact, all they really could do was wait until morning and try to see if there was anyway out of this mess.

He was shocked however, when she began to laugh slightly and look up at him again.

"Just to add to any bizarre stories you've heard about my people I feel it's only fair to mention that mermaids cry fresh water tears you know. The opposite of what I've heard of you humans." she explained with a weak smile.

Wiping another tear from her cheek and licking his finger he found she was right; her tears were not salty like a persons' but like fresh ice water straight from a glacier and he found that he could only smirk in response.

"Well, I'll be damned if that's the strangest thing I've learned all day." He said and they both managed to laugh at this.

"You know, I never did get to hear your name the other day before we were interrupted." He added as an afterthought.

Once her laughter had died down, she thought for moment realizing for everything that had happened so far, he was right.

"Yona. My name is Yona." She said, staring right into those ocean blue eyes of his as she did so.

"I'm Hak. It's a pleasure to finally meet you again, Yona."

{*****}

Sup guys. So, it's been a lifetime and a half since I wrote the first chapter of this but having recently done a pirate themed escape room with two really good friends, I found the inspiration to try and write a second chapter. I'm not sure how far this story will go but here's hoping that listening to a few sea shanties will help with the inspiration process. 😉

Hope you enjoyed this and reviews are always welcome. 3


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